Insteon

This integration adds “local push” support for INSTEON Modems allowing linked INSTEON devices to be used within Home Assistant.

There is currently support for the following device types within Home Assistant:

Binary Sensor

Cover

Fan

Light

Sensor

Switch

Device support is provided by the underlying insteonplm package. It is known to work with the 2413U USB and 2412S RS242 flavors of PLM and the 2448A7 USB stick. It has also been tested to work with the 2242 and 2245 Hubs.

INSTEON Modem configuration

To set up an INSTEON Powerline Modem (PLM) device such as the 2413U, use the following configuration:

Configuration Variables

The serial or USB port for your device, e.g., /dev/ttyUSB0 or COM3. Required for PLM setup.

host

(string)(Optional)

The host name or IP address of the Hub. Required with Hub.

ip_port

(integer)(Required)

The IP port number of the Hub. For Hub model [2245] (i.e. Hub version 2) the default port is 25105. For the Hub model [2242] (i.e. Hub version 1) the default port is 9761. Use the Insteon app to find the port number for your specific Hub. Optional with Hub.

username

(string)(Optional)

The username to login in to the local Hub. You can find your Hub username on the bottom of the Hub or you can use the Insteon app. Required for Hub version 2 setup.

password

(string)(Optional)

The password to login in to the local Hub. You can find your Hub password on the bottom of the Hub or you can use the Insteon app. Required for Hub version 2 setup.

hub_version

(integer)(Optional)

The Hub version number where model [2242] is Hub version 1 and model [2245] is Hub version 2. Required for Hub version 1 setup.

Default value:

2

device_override

(list)(Optional)

Override the default device definition.

address

(string)(Required)

is found on the device itself in the form 1A.2B.3C or 1a2b3c.

cat

(integer)(Optional)

is found in the back of the device’s User Guide in the form of 0x00 - 0xff.

subcat

(integer)(Optional)

is found in the back of the device’s User Guide in the form of 0x00 - 0xff.

firmware

(string)(Optional)

are more advanced options and will typically not be used.

product_key

(integer)(Optional)

are more advanced options and will typically not be used.

x10_devices

(list)(Optional)

Define X10 devices to control or respond to.

housecode

(string)(Required)

is the X10 housecode values a - p

unitcode

(integer)(Required)

is the X10 unit code values 1 - 16

platform

(string)(Required)

is the Home Assistant Platform to associate the device with. The following platforms are supported: binary_sensor: Used for on/off devices or keypad buttons that are read-only. light: Used for dimmable X10 devices. switch: Used for On/Off X10 devices.

dim_steps

(integer)(Optional)

is the number of dim/bright steps the device supports. Used for dimmable X10 devices only.

Default value:

22

x10_all_units_off

(string)(Optional)

Creates a binary_sensor that responds to the X10 standard command for All Units Off.

x10_all_lights_on

(string)(Optional)

Creates a binary_sensor that responds to the X10 standard command for All Lights On

x10_all_lights_off

(string)(Optional)

Creates a binary_sensor that responds to the X10 standard command for All Lights Off

Autodiscovery

The first time autodiscovery runs, the duration may require up to 20 seconds per device. Subsequent startups will occur much quicker using cached device information. If a device is not recognized during autodiscovery, you can add the device to the device_override configuration.

In order for a device to be discovered, it must be linked to the INSTEON Modem as either a responder or a controller.

Linking Devices to the INSTEON Modem

In order for any two Insteon devices to talk with one another, they must be linked. For an overview of device linking, please read the Insteon page on understanding linking. The Insteon Modem module supports All-Linking through Development Tools service calls. The following services are available:

insteon.add_all_link: Puts the Insteon Modem (IM) into All-Linking mode. The IM can be set as a controller or a responder. If the IM is a controller, put the IM into linking mode then press the SET button on the device. If the IM is a responder, press the SET button on the device then put the IM into linking mode.

insteon.delete_all_link: Tells the Insteon Modem (IM) to remove an All-Link record from the All-Link Database of the IM and a device. Once the IM is set to delete the link, press the SET button on the corresponding device to complete the process.

insteon.load_all_link_database: Load the All-Link Database for a device. WARNING - Loading a device All-Link database may take a LONG time and may need to be repeated to obtain all records.

insteon.print_all_link_database: Print the All-Link Database for a device. Requires that the All-Link Database is loaded first.

insteon.print_im_all_link_database: Print the All-Link Database for the INSTEON Modem (IM).

If you are looking for more advanced options, you can use the insteonplm_interactive command line tool that is distributed with the insteonplm Python module. Please see the documentation on the insteonplm GitHub site. Alternatively, you can download HouseLinc which runs on any Windows PC, or you can use Insteon Terminal which is open source and runs on most platforms. SmartHome no longer supports HouseLinc, but it still works. Insteon Terminal is a very useful tool but please read the disclaimers carefully, they are important.

Customization

The only configuration item that is necessary is the PLM port or Hub IP address, username and password so that Home Assistant can connect to the INSTEON Modem. This will expose all the supported INSTEON devices which exist in the modem’s ALL-Link database. However, devices will only be shown by their INSTEON hex address (e.g., “1A.2B.3C”) which can be a bit unwieldy. As you link and unlink devices using the ‘Set’ buttons, they’ll be added and removed from Home Assistant automatically.

You can use the normal Home Assistant device customization section of your configuration to assign friendly names and special icons to your devices. This is especially useful for setting device_class on your binary_sensor INSTEON devices.

Device Overrides

INSTEON devices are added to Home Assistant using the platform(s) that make the most sense given the model and features of the hardware. The features of the INSTEON devices are built into the Home Assistant platform. Changing the platform is not recommended.

There are two primary uses for the device_override feature:

Devices that do not respond during autodiscovery. This is common for battery operated devices.

Devices that have not been fully developed. This allows an unknown device to be mapped to a device that operates similarly to another device.

What NOT to do

Insteon Modem is a top-level integration and device discovery will identify the Home Assistant platform the device belongs in. As such, do not declare Insteon devices in other platforms. For example, this configuration will NOT work:

light:
- platform: insteon
address: 1a2b3c

INSTEON Scenes

Trigger an INSTEON scene on or off is done via automations. Two services are provided to support this feature:

Known Issues with the INSTEON Hub

The INSTEON Hub has three known issues that are inherent to the design of the Hub:

If you see multiple error messages in the log file stating the Hub connection is closed, and reconnection has failed, this generally requires the Hub to be restarted to reconnect.

You cannot use both Home Assistant and the INSTEON app. If you do, the changes made in the app will not appear in Home Assistant. Changes made in Home Assistant will appear in the app after a period of time, however.

The Hub response times can be very slow. This is due to the Hub polling devices frequently. Since only one INSTEON message can be broadcast at a time, messages to and from Home Assistant can be delayed.